San Diego College of Continuing Education, which this year is conferring a record-breaking 10,554 certificates and diplomas, will hold its 2024 joint commencement ceremony with San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) on Tuesday, June 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park.

More than 500 adult graduates are expected to participate in the ceremony, the college’s largest procession to date. Forty-eight-year-old High School Diploma/Equivalency student, Marisol Sosa, will be the class of 2024 speaker. 

Sosa first enrolled at the College of Continuing Education to finish her diploma in 2012. Twelve years later she will proudly walk across the stage to turn her tassel. “I don’t have enough words to express what I am feeling. It has been a long journey, I have been waiting for this moment since I was 12-years-old. Now, here I am waiting for June 11th,” said Sosa, who remembers not being afforded an education as a child. “The day my mother told me that I couldn't go to school anymore because she didn't have the means to pay for my studies, I thought it was the end of the world. Today, I am crying with joy because I will finally graduate. I will always remember my college faculty, because of them I achieved my dream.” Sosa will transition to City College this fall to become a certified public accountant.

Among the 2024 graduates is also Ricky Infante, 29-year-old Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). Infante first tried his hand at a postsecondary education through the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, a private Los Angeles college. He was just shy of a few credits to complete a fashion design certificate when he had to leave school. Like Sosa, Infante returned to the classroom nearly a decade later, this time to study public health. “I chose to become a CNA because it feels gratifying to help other people who can’t take care of themselves.” Infante is working as a CNA in San Diego.

The College of Continuing Education serves 30,000 students annually, offering adult learners 18 and older with more than 70 tuition-free career certificate options such as cybersecurity and culinary arts and thousands of no-cost classes including English as a Second Language (ESL) and Citizenship. The college awards more certificates of completion annually than any other noncredit institution in California.

“I have been honored to be a part of many commencement ceremonies but nothing compares to the overwhelming sense of pride and joy you feel watching hundreds of deserving adult students cross the stage with a diploma or a certificate from the College of Continuing Education and SDUSD,” said Dr. Tina M. King, College of Continuing Education President. “Our amazing resilient students have returned to the classroom after decades of being away or were given the opportunity to go to school for the first time in their lives, or chose SDCCE to regain a skill, enter the workforce or to pursue their educational aspirations and these reasons are all remarkable to celebrate.”

Graduates are available for media interviews before commencement begins from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on June 11 or in advance of the ceremony.